Dog days indeed

Whew!! Thought I'd better check in lest you all would think I'd been long lost or something. No such luck my pretties!! I'm doing just fine - thank you very much. It's August already. In fact, it's nearly the middle of August and it's been just over 3 weeks since my last post. Truly, the Dog days of summer. Busy, busy, busy. Too darned busy if you ask me! But seriously folks, it's freaking August already!! Can you believe that!? Blah blah blah, here we go again with the same old time thing...enough already!! (it's so true though!) Have I mentioned before that time passes a little too quickly for my liking? Oh okay, sorry...I won't mention it again. I'm trying; seriously, I am.

So, what exactly have I been doing that seems to be taking up all my free time lately? Darned if I can remember. My head's positively swimming with the daily grind though. I live such an exciting life. NOT!! We did attend a wedding though, and those are always a lot of fun. One of my best friend's daughter got married. The wedding was held in my friend's yard and it was truly beautiful. The bride was beautiful, the flowers were gorgeous, the food was delicious and the spirits were freely flowing, and everyone in attendance had an enjoyable time. Hubby and I even got to dance. First time in a long time...it was nice. Did I mention that it was FREAKING HOT though!!?? Seriously, everybody there was positively sweating bullets - I kid you not. I don't think I've sweated that much in my entire life...barring spending time in the sauna. Hot. Miserably so.

As you may or may not know, we here in the Pacific NW have been experiencing an unusually long, dry and exceedingly hotspell that's lasted about 2 weeks. We're just not accustomed to this kind of heat. We are heat weinies. For sure. Most of us don't own air conditioners, or swimming pools, and therefore have been wilting on the vine, so to speak...not to mention our vegetation and our animals. We are all quite spoiled and enjoy it that way. Triple digits cause our weathermen to hyperventilate with the excitement of it all. Extreme heat warning in effect. You get the picture.

So, yesterday afternoon when the skies turned grey and cloudy, we all waited with bated breath. And yes, it paid off. A refreshingly cool and most welcome rain began, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. I fell asleep last night listening to the luxuriously soft, soothing sound of rain falling on my roof...and a cool and moist breeze wafting through the open window. So peaceful; and blessedly cool and comforting. I didn't even have to water my flowers or garden plants last night. I love it.

One of my girlfriends and I spent a couple of days down at the beach a couple of weeks ago. We left home fairly early in the morning and stopped for breakfast on the way down. German styled fried potatoes, bacon, eggs and homemade molasses bread with plenty of coffee. Yum!! This particular restaurant is a tiny little place and is well-known for their wonderful homestyle cooking and especially, their pies. Oh my!! Those pies looked absolutely delicious, but we were way too stuffed to indulge further. My friend did take some pictures of all those lovely beauties though. There must have been 30 or more pies freshly baked just sitting there smelling up the place. That kind of thing ought to be illegal, don't you think?? Anyway, we travelled on to our destination. Leaving temps nearing the 90's it was invitingly cool at the beach. The skies were blue and temps were in the upper 60's with a light coastal breeze. Perfect!! We even made a stop at Depoe Bay and were astonished to see a pod of grey whales just offshore. How mesmerizing it is to watch those mammoth creatures swim and break through the surface and blow water and air from their blowholes!! It was amazing and we felt blessed to be witnessing such majestic creatures frolic in the ocean!! Truly breathtaking and awe-inspiring. Before long a crowd of spectators and a couple of boats had gathered to partake in this scenic adventure that just moments before had been just for us. We felt truly blessed.

We stayed in the "Ernest Hemingway" room at the Sylvia Beach Hotel on Nye Beach in Newport. It's an old hotel in the heart of a very quaint neighborhood where you can walk to any number of local destinations. Within a several block radius, there's a neighborhood grocery store, restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, pubs and an array of unique little shops perfect for browsing and finding treasures. Our hotel was right on the ocean and we enjoyed leisure strolls on the wide, sandy beach and just lounging in the sand. We had a nice dinner in the local Irish Pub and then breakfasted in the hotel's dining room, where you never know what the chef will be planning. Besides the hot entree', they always serve a variety of baked goods, fresh fruits, juices and hot coffee. On the way home we stopped at a local farmer's market and came away with some fresh fruits and veggies to enjoy later. We had a wonderful time and I would love to do it again sometime with my good friend. One of the best things about summer is ample opportunities for making memories for cherishing later. I have a lot of pictures that I will hopefully be able to post sometime soon. Thanks Miss B, I had a fantastic time!!

My good friend Shannon is still staying in her motorhome at our house. We have enjoyed a bunch of great conversations, lots of horseback rides and quiet times on the deck. It has been very enjoyable for me to have such a good friend spending the summer with us. In years to come, I do believe that I will refer to this summer as "the year with Shannon". With someone at home, it has allowed my hubby and me to be more free to travel on the weekends without having the worry of caretakers for our horses. I will treasure this summer and all the wonderful memories we are storing away for later.

Well, I had intended for this to be a brief summary of what I've been up to over the last several weeks of my absence from blogging; but as usual, I've rambled on and on...always the chatterbox. Some things will never change.

There's still plenty of summer adventures to come...more horse camping, trail riding, peach canning season, jam making, barbecues, suntanning on the deck with my friend, two more weddings to attend...and our trip to Kailua, Hawaii. *sigh* I cannot wait!!!

Life is good...

Blessings from Cingspots!!